Electronic Delivery (E-Delivery) Of Services In India Is Needed

Surprisingly lack of financial resources is not the
real reason for non adoption of Electronic Delivery of Services in
India but it is the absence of “Political Will” to empower the
Citizens of India that is the real culprit.

For instance, recently the World Bank signed an
Agreement with Indian Government according to which a loan of $150
million was granted to India for Electronic Delivery of Public
Services in India. Naturally India cannot afford to loose this loan
amount and as a condition precedent to get the benefits of such loan,
Electronic
Delivery of Public Services in India has to be ensured.
Thus, the argument that India lacks financial resources to implement
this ambitious initiative is nothing but a false claim.

In short, there should be a Legal
Framework for Mandatory E-Governance in India that
provides E-Governance Services to Indian citizens as a “Matter of
Right”. If India fails to achieve this task, the World Bank is
within its right to seek an explanation from India in this regard.
Even the Loan can be Cancelled or Withdrawn by the World Bank in
these circumstances.

To ensure E-Delivery of Services in India,
Indian Government proposed a Draft
Electronic Services Delivery Bill 2011 but it “Failed”
to provide Mandatory E-Governance Services in India. If this was not
enough, now the Standing Committee on Information and Technology has
questioned the very need of such a Legal Framework. It seems the
Committee has not been made aware of the “Mandates of Loan”
provided by the World Bank.

The Committee is also wrong on at least two counts.
The first apprehension of the Committee is that the proposed Law
would not provide adequate time for implementation by the States. On
the contrary, the proposed Law provided a “Non-Mandatory Mandate”
for a very long period of time that can be easily achieved in the
present environment and with the existing ICT Infrastructure. In
fact, we need to provide “Mandatory E-Governance Services” in
India that have been ignored by the proposed Law.

The second argument of the Committee that a separate
Law is not required and suitable amendments in the Information
Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act 2000), which is the Cyber Law of India,
would be suffice is also without merits. By clubbing everything with
a “Single Law” that is prone to “Constitutional Attacks” and
“Litigations” is a really bad “Policy Decision”. On the
contrary, the Cyber
Law of India must be repealed and “Separate Laws” must
be formulated regarding areas like E-Governance, E-Commerce, etc.

Whatever happened with the proposed Electronic
Delivery of Services Bill is really unfortunate that only shows that
our own Government is not at all interested in Digital Empowerment of
Indian Citizens.

The only good thing about this entire episode is
that another “Half Baked” and “Ineffective Law” has been
prevented from being enacted that could have proved a remedy worst
than the malady. I hope Indian Government would come up with a more
Effective, Robust and Holistic Electronic Delivery of Services Legal
Framework very soon keeping aside its “Political Interests” and
“Inappropriate Apprehensions”.

1 comment:

Very valid and significant views. I feel the critical item in this area is the Legal framework to support electronic delivery. Over casual discussions with my overseas colleagues, I had tried to gain an understanding on how the legal framework has supported electronic delivery in Europe and USA. However, none were able to recall any significant judicial cases and outcome. Would you be able share your knowledge on the operation of the legal framework say in Europe or even Asian countries such as Singapore?